Table 1.
Clinical and demographic characteristics of the sample
| Healthy controls (n = 39) | Bipolar disorder (n = 40) | p value | ||
| Mean age ± SD, years | 34.92±13.10 | 43.18±12.31 | 0.005a | |
| Sex (female), n (%) | 20 (51.3) | 27 (67.5) | 0.142b | |
| Ethnicity (Caucasian), n (%) | 28 (71.8) | 28 (70.0) | 0.861b | |
| Mean education ± SD, years | 12.21±3.74 | 11.00±3.79 | 0.169a | |
| Illness characteristics | ||||
| Mean age of onset ± SD, years | – | 26.71±9.88 | – | |
| Mean illness duration ± SD, years | – | 16.19±13.53 | – | |
| Mean number of mood episodes ± SD | – | 11.33±17.88 | – | |
| Medication use | ||||
| Antipsychotics, n (%) | – | 22 (55.0) | – | |
| Lithium, n (%) | – | 23 (57.5) | – | |
| Anticonvulsants, n (%) | – | 25 (62.5) | – | |
| Antidepressants, n (%) | – | 6 (15.0) | – | |
| Comorbidities | ||||
| Mean physical activity ± SD, h/week | 1.84±2.20 | 1.23±2.00 | 0.222a | |
| Alcohol use, n (%) | 22 (56.4) | 6 (15.0) | <0.001b | |
| Smoking, n (%) | 6 (15.4) | 10 (25.0) | 0.288b | |
| Mean BMI ± SD | 26.71±4.88 | 28.89±5.88 | 0.084c | |
SD, standard deviation; BMI, body mass index.
a
t test.
b
χ2 test.
c
Mann-Whitney test.